Eielson Air Force Base achieved a new milestone this week as F-35A Lightning II stealth fighters assigned to the 356th Fighter Squadron flew its 100th sortie.

The squadron’s 100th sortie, a significant milestone for Eielson’s combat-coded aircraft.

The first two fifth-generation fighters assigned to Eielson arrived to interior Alaska in April.

In April 2016, the Air Force made an announcement that changed Eielson AFB history. After a lengthy analysis of the installation’s operations, environmental factors and cost, the Secretary of the Air Force selected Eielson AFB to be the first operational U.S. Air Force location outside the contiguous United States to receive the F-35A Lightning II.

With a total of 54 F-35As scheduled to arrive by December 2021, Alaska will be the most concentrated state for combat-coded, fifth-generation fighter aircraft. The state will also continue to be a premiere training location as home to the Joint Pacific Alaska Range Complex’s 75,000 square miles of airspace.